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A medical marijuana cultivation business is coming to Youngstown
YOUNGSTOWN
A Youngstown location will be among 12 large-growing sites in Ohio to cultivate medical marijuana starting next September.
Riviera Creek Holding LLC of Youngstown, operated by Brian Kessler and his nephew, Daniel Kessler, was awarded a Level 1 license Thursday by the Ohio Department of Commerce for up to 25,000 square feet of growing space.
“The first order of business is getting quotes to put the security in place, do construction to make it easier to produce the products and move equipment into the location,” said Daniel Kessler, the company’s chief operations officer. “Our plan is to start as quickly as possible. We have to harvest by September. The process has to start before that.”
The company will operate out of 1275 Crescent St. – which it owns and used to house Maui Toys Inc., Kessler said. It’s been vacant since earlier this year, he said.
The company plans an investment of $10 million to $15 million over three years with 181 to 319 jobs by 2022, including 71 employees in its first year, he said.
“It’s very, very exciting,” Kessler said. “We’re excited for the city – the new jobs and the tax revenue – and for the patients this product will be able to help.”
The group includes those with more than five years of marijuana-growing experience in states with legal operations.
Youngstown Mayor John A. McNally said he was pleased with the news.
“This is the first group that contacted us, and we met with them 18 to 24 months ago,” he said. “It helps with income tax collection for the city and bolsters the riverfront corridor.”
McNally was optimistic the city would get one of the medical marijuana cultivation sites. In May, when Riviera officials and four other groups gave proposals to grow medical marijuana in Youngstown, McNally said the city had as fair a chance of getting a license as any other place.
“I thought given the fact there were 12 [large] sites to be located, there would be a relatively equal distribution across the state,” he said Thursday. “I was pretty positive from the get-go. I thought all the presentations were good, and we’re happy the Kessler proposal was selected.”
Large growers paid $20,000 to apply to operate sites. They’ll pay $180,000 in initial licensing fees and $200,000 a year thereafter.
The facilities will be as large as 25,000 square feet to start, and can apply to expand up to 75,000 square feet.
The other locations selected Thursday by the state were Akron, Canton, Parma, and communities in Lake, Erie, Clark, Greene, Muskingum, Brown and Sandusky counties. One company was awarded a license but had two sites – in Cleveland and Lawrence County. It will have to choose the location for the license by Dec. 9.
The state two weeks ago announced 11 Level 2 growers to cultivate up to 3,000 square feet. It added a 12th location Thursday. None are in the Mahoning Valley.
Medical marijuana will be made available to purchase by those with 21 different medical conditions, and can only be obtained from a state-licensed dispensary with a doctor’s prescription. State law doesn’t allow it to be sold to be smoked.
Ohio received 185 total applications – 109 for Level 1 and 76 for Level 2 – for the licenses and evaluated them based on business, financial, operational and security plans.
Riviera had the fourth highest total points of the Level 1 applicants.
Ohio is the 25th state to legalize medical marijuana.